Another Surfer killed in Australia.

[jbd]

Weren't some people in other shark fatality thread (about the surfer death from July of this year) saying this group hunting behavior was uncommon? Could these be the same sharks?

I have recently seen a couple of documentaries that indiate that there is a population of GW's that hunt, loosely, in a group. They are in the area of Australia and New Zealand. Through tagging and other research methods the scientist think that this is a family--sort of like an elephant herd.

 

[jbd]

why cant we build some type of barrier, fence, gate. it would prevent sharks from getting in to close

What the surfers need is a Shark Pod device on the board. Surely there is some way to build such a device into the design of the board.

 

[Rick Murchison]

Most shark "attacks" are of the "bite & spit" variety. That is, the shark bites, apparently realizes he doesn't have a seal or a fish, and leaves. Of course a single bite can result in egregious damage or death... but an attack of this type doesn't indicate a shark who has a taste for humans; it is no more likely to "attack" another human than any other shark in the general population, maybe even less so. These "attacks" are more accurately characterized as chance encounters and these sharks should be left alone.
But sharks that really attack, then hang around and eat folks should be removed from the gene pool.
Quickly.
I'll do it.
Rick

 

[Randy43068]

Most shark "attacks" are of the "bite & spit" variety. That is, the shark bites, apparently realizes he doesn't have a seal or a fish, and leaves. Of course a single bite can result in egregious damage or death... but an attack of this type doesn't indicate a shark who has a taste for humans; it is no more likely to "attack" another human than any other shark in the general population, maybe even less so. These "attacks" are more accurately characterized as chance encounters and these sharks should be left alone.
But sharks that really attack, then hang around and eat folks should be removed from the gene pool.
Quickly.
I'll do it.
Rick

I hate to see any animal distroyed, but in this case I agree with you. It must be done.

Randy

 

[Brian Gilpin]

Most shark "attacks" are of the "bite & spit" variety. That is, the shark bites, apparently realizes he doesn't have a seal or a fish, and leaves. Of course a single bite can result in egregious damage or death... but an attack of this type doesn't indicate a shark who has a taste for humans; it is no more likely to "attack" another human than any other shark in the general population, maybe even less so. These "attacks" are more accurately characterized as chance encounters and these sharks should be left alone.
But sharks that really attack, then hang around and eat folks should be removed from the gene pool.
Quickly.
I'll do it.
Rick

Rick:

That's a pretty sensible solution. Especially since its coming from red state guy.

 

[Shasta_man]

Sharks don't separate chance attack from deliberate attack. Sharks don't separate human from another animal. They just live and eat. They are opportunity predators. When there is an opportunity, they eat. If they miss this opportunity, they don't know when they'll eat. There is nothing less cruel in how they attack and eat seals, except they're not human.

It's as simple as this: Walk in the street, get hit by a car.

Watch any great white video showing the shark reasonably up close and any time you enter their territory after that, YOU, not them, are ignoring a huge warning sign that can't get any more obvious. One look at that thing and you can see it can take you in two bites and fights things a lot tougher than you. Is it their fault that they don't have the intelligence to have compassion or can make distinction between a human and animals? They don't bite and spit just because we're humans. They don't like some taste about it and that's all.

Another thing that I have to question is why would you pull somebody behind a boat? Sorry but trolling comes to mind. Pulling a seal shaped object behind a boat in known great white territory is too much activity for such a curious and confident animal to ignore.

I have great compassion for their loss. I don't know their thoughts. But we can't ignore the fact that in entering the ocean, you bring yourself down to an equal level with the rest of the animals. You're no more special than anything else. You're just another animal. We willingly take that risk when scuba diving. I take that risk for the beautiful world I get to experience. How can I blame the animal when I go into their territory and put myself on an equal basis? They don't go to Safeway, they hunt. I knew the risk. If I encounter them, I fight. I win, I win or I lose. If I don't want to have to fight, it's as easy as staying here at home. I think most surfers think the same. They're there to enjoy the beauty. THey know the dangers and accept them. They're no less sad if someone is hurt but they knew the dangers. Like investing, the bigger the risk, the bigger the payoff.

You can't just kill everything that bothers you, not with people, not with animals.

I hate to see any animal distroyed, but in this case I agree with you. It must be done.

Randy

 

[jbd]

Another thing that I have to question is why would you pull somebody behind a boat? Sorry but trolling comes to mind. Pulling a seal shaped object behind a boat in known great white territory is too much activity for such a curious and confident animal to ignore.

This is actually a method used to get footage of sharks attacking a seal on the surface. Generally, a piece of carpeting is cut to mimic the sillohuette of a seal and it is trolled behind the boat. The resultant attack by the shark is spectacular.

I would suspect that a shark or group of sharks that is in ambush mode for feeding is already dialed in to eat which may have made this attack on the young boy that much more severe.

 

[alcina]

Can I get a link to info on that doco you saw about the pack hunting??

Also, FWIW the story of which shark it is - and it's now only one when the original reports & eyewitness accounts were that it was two - is changing. So I am not sure how accurate the target is...and I still don't know how they know it's the right shark.

The father did a press conference stating he, family and friends do not support the indiscriminate killing of any shark, that they all knew and accepted that the ocean was the shark's and would like to see any money potentially earmarked for this hunt used instead to continue research on these animals including expanding current tagging technology and scope. Pretty darned impressive from some one who just suffered such a loss.

 

[jbd]

Can I get a link to info on that doco you saw about the pack hunting??

Also, FWIW the story of which shark it is - and it's now only one when the original reports & eyewitness accounts were that it was two - is changing. So I am not sure how accurate the target is...and I still don't know how they know it's the right shark.

The father did a press conference stating he, family and friends do not support the indiscriminate killing of any shark, that they all knew and accepted that the ocean was the shark's and would like to see any money potentially earmarked for this hunt used instead to continue research on these animals including expanding current tagging technology and scope. Pretty darned impressive from some one who just suffered such a loss.

Try a search for the Discovery channel. Thats about the only kind of programming I watch.

Its the tagging and research that brought this idea into consideration i.e. group hunting. One other thing I noted was that the sharks seemed to have a rythm or returning to certain places on a regular basis, as though they knew food would be more readily available at certain times of the year. Should that be the case then the authorities could make recommendations on closing beaches when appropriate and then reopening them when it is deemed that the sharks have moved on to other hunting areas.

The fathers comment about spending the money to further research is spot on.

 

[Cudabait]

Whose to say these animals have not been taught to respond to human stimuli....such as humans feeding them to attract them for photographic purposes or any number of other chumming exercises?

Tragic event, indeed.

Regards,